DIALOGUE

He says: I think you're stuck.

When a woman finds herself in a shape
she didn't used to be in,
it's a lot of work to get the muscles moving.

Did you follow a green light here?
Buried in the dark earth.

If I could touch you with a brush and chisel -
but those aren't suitable for working on supple flesh.

When I reached into the dirt,
what I found was nothing like the worms
that grow in summer's garden.

A place for seeds and new beginnings.

Instead I was a blind man.
Touching the elephant's tail and wondering
whether these palm fronds would shade me from the sun.

I began my work the only way I know how.

Putting my beak in the tiger's enclosure.
Or should I say:
You.
Working on the basis that your outline feels like teeth,
Which are something I know how to work with.

Do you think you can move a muscle?
Do you think you can move the weight of spending a year dead?
Do you think at all?
Or is it entirely action?
Just electricity.
Frog's legs and a burning smell.
Do you think there is a whirlpool deep enough to hold you
that won't just push you up to the surface again?
What do you plan to speak of?
Talk to me, why don't you?

She says: Problems are very old.
When I was down in the mud
I saw the skulls of the dead
and their problems looked exactly like ours did.

When you scratch an image into the wood
the important thing
is not the accuracy of the image.
The important thing is what
that line looks like.

Draw a single curve
and see what images come out of you
to reside in a line
that looks like nothing
to those who have no images.

He says: And this comes before the words?

She says: It comes before anything.